1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a production method for a top cloth of a top of a vehicle and to a corresponding top for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Open vehicles, such as convertibles, are protected from an environment, and therefore against rain penetrating a vehicle interior by a top.
A differentiation is made between flexible or soft tops and hard tops. Soft tops optionally may comprise various insulation layers. Hard tops have rigid, foldable roofs. Repeating folding movements during the opening and closing of a flexible or soft top subject the respective components of the corresponding top to a heavy loading. Cracks may occur and/or seams may be damaged in flexible materials of the top, such as in a respective top cloth, due to shearing movements and frictional forces.
JP 2008-143245 A discloses a piping that is sewn to an outer casing of a top to produce a rain channel. As a result, top components arranged below the piping are protected against loading by, for example, rainwater.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,064 describes a tension cable that is guided by a tab in a top cloth so that tensile forces can be asserted by the tension cable on the top cloth and the top cloth can be brought into a specified shape.
DE 41 12 256 C2 discloses a collapsible or folding top for vehicles. The top has a top material with shaped strips made of flexible material sewn directly onto respective border edges of profiles. The profile strips are adapted in shape to the profiles and are screwed to the profiles. A binding band comprises a seam region of the top cloth and is sewn with a continuous seam onto the top cloth.
DE 42 34 811 C2 discloses a convertible top with a piping-type rain channel.
Against this background, it is an object of the invention to provide a top with a top cloth with a lower seam that runs along a rain channel with increased positioning accuracy in relation to the prior art and appropriately exacting tolerances. Therefore the seam is protected from direct contact with environmental influences and the corresponding top lasts for a long time and is resistant to environmental influences.